Although shorter than many readers might expect (the entire volume clocks in at shy of 90 pages), Transgender Lives: Complex Stories, Complex Voices is actually a perfectly sized collection of trans* narratives.

Kirstin Cronn-Mills has put together a lovely little collection here, one that intersperses personal narratives with educational pieces on trans* issues, labels, trends, health, and more. In reading this, I was immediately struck by how open it is in terms of community/spectrum, and how wide of a definition of trans* it embraces. It's refreshing to read a work where cross-dressers, drag queens, and genderqueer individuals are celebrated alongside those who identify as intersex or transsexual.

We open with the narrative of Hayden (a female-to-male transsexual), her sister, her mother, and her fiancée. It's a story of both story of personal pain and family acceptance, capped off by the love of a woman who sees Hayden not as a trans* man, but simply as a man. Katie, who identifies as transgender, talks about overcoming the chemical imbalance of too much testosterone, and offers some very positive thoughts about embracing her trans* identity, along with the new experiences it opened to her. In Dean's narrative, he talks about trusting your instincts and having the courage to be yourself. He shares the painful story of having temporarily escaped or retreated into drugs, and of a transition delayed by the expense of university treatment programs. Ultimately, however, his is a story of triumph, capped off by his legal victory as the first transsexual in Oregon to win a discrimination case.

The next narrative is that of Dave, a drag performer who has come to accept and embrace aspects of "woman" into his every day. Brooke, meanwhile, sees herself as an intersex role model, able to embrace both worlds. Although her body has developed more towards male since puberty, she still identifies as female. As for Julia, she identifies as genderqueer, and has considered medical transition options (surgery and hormones), but enjoys the freedom to fully express her gender. The last narrative, that of Natasha & Nancy, it's a fascinating one. Natasha is transgender, at very beginning of her transition, while Nancy identifies as genderqueer. A couple since 2010, they are planning for their marriage.

As for the educational pieces interspersed between the narratives, my favorite had to be the chapter on Trans* History Narratives, covering the entire range from Greek mythology, to Native American cultures, to gender fluidity in Asia and India. The final chapters on gender timelines and who's who are fascinating, if a bit brief, but a nice sampling of the community.

Overall, Transgender Lives: Complex Stories, Complex Voices is very well put together. It's nicely laid out, looks extremely professional, and has (as I mentioned) a wonderful balance in its content. While it does lend itself to a quick read, it's also something I suspect readers will find themselves returning to over and over again.


As published on Bending the Bookshelf ( )

Transgender Lives is a small, but ground-breaking book. Written with junior high and high school readers in mind, it alternates stories from trans* individuals’ live with chapters on topics like transgender health and transgender life challenges. [Note that this book primarily uses the term trans*, rather than transgendered because the identity is much more complex than the term "gender," which still implies the binary male/female dichotomy, allows.] Opening materials explain that “Transgender Lives helps you understand what it means to be trans* in America while learning more about transgender history, the broad spectrum of transgender identities, and the transition process.”

The book is written to inform and to generate respect. The language is at a seventh grade level, which makes it accessible to a great many readers. The author uses analogies and hypothetical situations to put readers into the kinds of situations trans* individuals face daily:

Awsome! It’s the day you get to apply for a driver’s license. As you fill out the form, you realize you have to choose between the boxes labeled “male” and “female.” But what do you do if you feel neither box fits you? Today you’re dressed like a guy. Tomorrow you might wear a skirt…. Sometimes you identify with both boxes, some days with neither, and someday you might transition from one gender to another. But what do you do now? Do you make a new box? Do you lie?

The brevity of this Transgender Lives means that it won’t provide a definitive understanding of trans* life, history, and culture. It will, however, provide a vocabulary and structure for considering trans* identity—an issue of particular importance to its readers, who may be becoming aware of their own trans* selves or who may be encountering trans* peers for the first time. ( )